Yahoo has become the latest free email provider to increase the storage space it offers to customers.

The company's webmail accounts can now store up to 1GB, up from 250MB. The storage upgrade will begin in late April and take about two weeks to finish and test.

"Beginning next month, people can enjoy 1GB of storage for free and take comfort in the fact that Yahoo Mail continues to protect the privacy and security of their inboxes," said Andy Spillane, vice president of Yahoo Mail.

"We know that people are using their Yahoo Mail accounts to send and store more attachments, photos and important messages than ever before. By providing 1GB of storage for free, we continue with our eight-year tradition of making Yahoo Mail an even more essential part of people's lives."

Yahoo and Hotmail used to offer less than 6MB of storage until Google's Gmail service was launched with 1GB. Since then both services have raised their allocations.

Users of Yahoo's paid-for service will also be receiving an upgrade. They will be given 2GB of storage, the ability to send attachments up to 20MB in size and an upgrade of the firm's anti-spam and security software.